The Kendrick brothers held a book signing during the grand opening of Books a Million in Albany, Georgia, on February 7. Their recent releases include a novelization of their movie The Forge, along with a ministry book, Devoted to Jesus.

Both filmmakers went to seminary after growing up in a Christian home. After 20 years of church ministry, they began making films. Alex Kendrick recalled their initial projects. “We began making first low budget feature films, and it had a bigger impact than we expected. And we did the books, and Bible study and novels to supplement that, and they did really well.”

They began filming their first film, Flywheel, in 2002. The brothers created the movie with the Albany community in mind, expected a few thousand to come and see it. It sold 1.3 million DVDs. When they created Facing the Giants, the movie was picked up by Sony. Alex Kendrick described the responses to their work. “The novels, the DVDs, sold millions. It was crazy, and so many people have responded to us. We had trouble just reading and answering emails, phone calls, letters.”

While their work is a team effort, Alex Kendrick focuses on the script writing and novelizations of the movies, while Stephen Kendrick focuses on the discipleship resources connected with the films. Alex Kendrick gave an example of how the books and movies go hand-in-hand. “If somebody sees the movie Fireproof, for instance, and they say, ‘this guy in the movie does a love dare to his wife to win her heart back, in honor of the Lord and [to] refresh his marriage, could I do that in real life?’ Yes you can. So we wrote the book, The Love Dare.”

Stephen Kendrick stated many have been inspired as a result. “It’s been happening all over the world since Fireproof came out in 2008 in theaters.”

Alex Kendrick shared the philosophy behind their writing. “Whenever we write a book, we don’t do it just to sell books. We do it to impact the reader, that when they finish reading the book, just like [when they] finish watching one of our movies, we want them to be motivated to take steps of faith, to draw closer to God.”

While their works are popular, some have critiqued Christian films in general, calling them “cheesy” or “corny.” When asked for their response, Stephen Kendrick described just how many factors go into making a movie feel real. “Making a movie is very difficult, and sometimes the music can make a powerful scene more cheesy than powerful, and sometimes it’s the acting. The word “cheese” is really connected to inauthenticity.” Alex Kendrick stated that while they hoped viewers were entertained by their films, their primary purpose was to help them grow in their faith.

Stephen Kendrick shared how their techniques have developed. “We have tried to make a very sincere effort in how we write, allowing the actors to tweak the scripts, even on set, and then in our reviews of the films, to remove cheese as much as possible.”

For viewers new to their works, the brothers give differing recommendations. For men struggling in their marriage, they recommend Fireproof, for those in business, Flywheel and The Forge, and
for older women wanting to learn how to pray, they recommend War Room.